News, Insight, and Shredded Wheat

“FOR THE SUMMER DAYS,” the advertisement went, “when the appetite needs to be coddled with fresh fruits that nourish and strengthen without disturbing the digestion. There is nothing so deliciously satisfying as Shredded Wheat Biscuit With Strawberries and Cream.”

The ad ran on the front inside cover of the June, 1912, issue of the American Review of Reviews, a magazine edited by Albert Shaw. Every month, for twenty-five cents, Shaw offered his readers original stories, and summarized noteworthy articles from other news sources around the world, providing an editorial perspective on each subject. In the June issue, which was about 130 pages long, one of Shaw’s “Leading Articles of the Month” was about ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

Many daily newspapers had covered ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s first two months in America, but the popular magazines, which had a longer editorial schedule, only began to appear in June. The American Review’s story on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá — “Will Bahaism Unite All Religious Faiths?” — appeared on the 107th page of the issue. It reported on his 1911 trip to London, and began by quoting an English magazine, the Fortnightly Review:

“Surely the dawn of a new day was heralded on that Sunday evening when the Archdeacon of Westminster walked hand in hand with Abdul Baha up the nave of St. John’s Church.”

Then Shaw’s writer chimed in with his own opinion: “Considering . . . the fact that this little-known Persian prophet has come to the western world to proclaim the dawn of the millennium, to announce that the Messiah awaited by all nations has actually lived, taught and died upon this earth in the past century, to preach what he and his followers believe to be the new world religion, destined to include an supersede all others and to unite all nations under the banner of a common faith, this would hardly seem an extravagant statement.” The “Messiah” they meant was not ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, but his father, Bahá’u’lláh.

The story was embedded among dozens of other stories on Progressive subjects. The 47th page of the edition offered a posthumous tribute to William T. Stead, one of the first investigative journalists. He had gone down on the Titanic. An article ten pages later explored “Roosevelt and the Third Term,” complete with cartoons. The 87th page carried a piece by Frank B. Kellogg, a Federal prosecutor, who wrote about the results of his successful 1911 antitrust case against Rockefeller’s Standard Oil Company of New Jersey, which found the corporate behemoth guilty of manipulating the petroleum industry.

The article on ‘Abdu’l-Bahá suggested that humankind took priority over national ideals. “There is something above and beyond patriotism,” he had said, as the American Review quoted him. “When we see this, and know in very truth the brotherhood of man, war will appear to us in its true light as an outrage on civilization, an act of madness and blindness.”

“Baha’u’llah announced this half a century ago in the slaughter-house of Persia,” the story read, “and it is not less forcible because to-day it is the slogan of Peace Societies in every civilized country in the world.”

The American Review of Reviews seemed to offer its reader everything, from war, politics, and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, all the way to Shredded Wheat. “No cooking or baking — no culinary skill required.”

In tomorrow’s feature: W. E. B. Du Bois prints his account of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá at last month’s Fourth Annual Conference of the NAACP.

ADD A NEW COMMENT

William Maxwell

This article needs a bit of work. It is disjointed. It skips around in time, place and theme. The seed of another great article is here. But a lot more cultivation is required. For example, how many column lines or inches did all the popular magazines of the day devote to ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s visit. This was the age of charismatic preachers in America, of the ten or one hundred most famous how many interacted with the “Persian Visitor”? And the big newspapers? Do we have a sense of how they responded to “The Visit of the Century”?

William Maxwell
in Tirana, Albania

http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100003295938534 Rob Sockett

Hi William, sorry you feel that way. Hope you keep reading!

We have been covering the ongoing story of the newspaper coverage of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s trip. Check out our articles on Day 1 (coverage of the arrival), Day 3 (newspapers adjusting the new visitor in light of ‘Eastern’ stereotypes), Day 29 (the negative reactions and controversy around the visit), and so on. We’ve also had some coverage of the major Christian preachers who positively reacted to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and invited him to their churches — e.g. Percy Stickney Grant on Day 4, 52 and 53 (Grant was one of the major voices in the Social Gospel Movement in New York) and Russell Conwell on Day 60 (Conwell had one of the largest congregations in America and his “Acres of Diamonds” speech was one of the most delivered speeches/sermons in America). And the goal is to certainly have more of this as the trip unfolds. Stay tuned!

Rooplall Dudhnath

Thanks….. good job much apprecated!

Jeanine H.

To be honest, I found it refreshing that the article gave us a smattering of the the contents of the Review. It gives us an immediate sense of the context in which the material about the Master appeared. The total significance of ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s visit cannot be crowded into every column (and, indeed, no article could contain it, nor do well fully understand it). On the other hand, some of the suggestions could, indeed, give us further interesting insights. Only my opinion. Thanks for the articles.

Robert Stockman

I doubt there is enough information accumulated, to date, to answer Bill’s questions. They would require a lot of work. -Rob

Rooplall Dudhnath

Agree with you William (Bill)

david bulman

That is a very interesting picture of ‘Abdu’l-Baha!

239 Days In America

A social media documentary following `Abdu’l-Bahá’s 1912 journey across North America in real time, exactly 100 years later: April 11 to December 5, 2012.

Today's Quote

There is something above and beyond patriotism. . . . When we see this, and know in very truth the brotherhood of man, war will appear to us in its true light as an outrage on civilization, an act of madness and blindness.